Trump claims Iran's nuclear program has been ‘obliterated.' Senate Republicans aren't entirely convinced.
A number of Senate Republicans exited an afternoon briefing on U.S. airstrikes in Iran not quite ready to endorse President Donald Trump's claim that Tehran's nuclear program was 'obliterated.'
Trump and other top Cabinet officials have spent the last 36 hours furiously doubling down on that characterization. But after hearing from several of Trump's top military and intelligence officials on the latest damage assessment, Senate Republicans were more restrained in their responses — even as they trumpeted the attacks' success.
'I don't think anybody's been on the ground to assess the extent of the damage,' Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) told reporters after the briefing.
Asked whether Iran's nuclear program was set back months, years or was obliterated, as Trump has claimed, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said, 'All of those things are true.'
'Everybody's got their own word: setback, obliterated, destroyed, greatly diminished,' Cramer told reporters. 'It's all of those things. I think all those are accurate, depending on how you use any one of those terms.'
Some Democrats were more pointedly skeptical of the Trump administration's vehement victory lap following the closed-door briefing. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he 'did not receive an adequate answer' from administration officials to questions about Iran's nuclear capabilities being obliterated.
While Cornyn and some other Republicans expressed uncertainty about how long Iran's nuclear program had been set back by the attacks, they nonetheless hailed the strikes as a major blow to Iran's nuclear capabilities.
'My impression, both before I went in and coming out, is that it was damaged heavily,' said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.). 'Whether it's a year or years, it was heavily damaged. Some people are more skeptical.'
'The guys hit the targets as planned, the munitions worked exactly as planned, and the results were as expected,' Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) added.
The classified session — where senators heard from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine and CIA director John Ratcliffe on the airstrikes against three Iranian nuclear sites — came after days of complaints from lawmakers that Capitol Hill wasn't kept in the loop on Saturday's surprise attack.
It also follows the leak of a preliminary intelligence assessment that appeared to undercut the Trump administration's claims that the attack decisively knocked out Tehran's nuclear program.
Notably absent from the briefing was Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, whom Trump publicly rebuked when asked about her testimony before Congress in March that Iran isn't seeking to build a nuclear weapon.
'She was kept out of that room because she has a disagreement with the people in that room,' Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) suggested. 'Obviously, her prior disagreement was on the amount of time it was going to take for Iran to get a nuclear weapon before the strikes happened.'
Hawkish Republicans were quick to concur with Trump's assessment. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally who had urged him to strike Iran, agreed that the nuclear program was 'obliterated' at the three sites the U.S. bombed. But Graham also said he still has concerns about Tehran's uranium stockpile and whether its nuclear program could be reconstituted.
'They're obliterated today, but you can reconstitute it,' Graham said. 'Isn't the real question: Have we obliterated their desire to have a nuclear weapon?'
'I don't want people to think the site wasn't severely damaged or obliterated. It was,' he added. 'But having said that, I don't want people to think the problem is over because it's not. They're going to keep trying this until they change their stated goal.'
The U.S. launched Operation Midnight Hammer late Saturday, targeting three of Iran's key nuclear sites to neutralize Tehran's ability to build a nuclear weapon. The mission involved seven B-2 stealth aircraft and a guided missile submarine, and marked the first combat use ever of the 30,000-pound GBU-57 bunker busting bomb, with 14 dropped on the Fordo facility and other sites.
Trump swiftly claimed on social media that the mission resulted in a 'total obliteration' of Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities. He and allies in the administration subsequently rallied around the messaging and rebuffed a preliminary intelligence assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency that reportedly concluded that core components of Iran's nuclear program remain intact and that its uranium stockpile was moved before the strike.
Hegseth at a press conference earlier Thursday didn't directly rebut any of the preliminary assessment's conclusions but noted that it had been labeled 'low confidence' and that the press had exaggerated its significance. The Pentagon chief alleged the report was 'leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters.'
The administration's briefing won some praise from Democrats, who have, for the most part, slammed Trump for leaving Congress in the dark.
'It was a constructive, substantive briefing,' said Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, the top Democrat on the panel that controls the Pentagon budget.
'I will give those guys credit in there, they were transparent with us,' said Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 'They answered our questions. It wasn't confrontational in any way. It was a good brief.'
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), the most vocal supporter of Iran strikes among Senate Democrats, said the U.S. 'will know more and more as there's more time' following the strike, but said 'What's out so far confirms that significant damage was done.'
Top Democrats, though, are still pushing for a vote on legislation to block Trump from taking further military action against Iran without congressional approval. The Senate could vote as soon as Thursday on a war powers resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), though it is a long shot to pass the chamber.
'Anyone in that meeting, anyone, if they're being honest with themselves ... would know that we need to enforce the War Powers Act and force them to articulate an answer to some specific questions and a coherent strategy right away,' Schumer said.
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